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Now Wait for Last Year

by Philip K. Dick

3.81 · rating details · 1,049 ratings · 54 reviews

Dr. Eric Sweetscent has problems. His planet is enmeshed in an unwinnable war. His wife is lethally addicted to a drug that whips its users helplessly back and forth across time -- and is hell-bent on making Eric suffer along with her. And Sweetscent's newest patient is not only the most important man on the embattled planet Earth but quite possibly the sickest. For Secret...more

Paperback, 230 pages

Published September 16th 2009 by Vintage (first published 1966)

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Community Reviews

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Aug 07, 2008

D_Davis rated it

Shelves: philip-k-dick, science-speculative-fiction

Great book. It does however run out of steam towards the end. It is about 3 chapters too long, and since the outcome of the plot is known at an earlier time (thanks to some mindbending time travel), the conclusion is wimpy.

However, everything leading up to these final moments is damn brilliant.

***

PKD's Now Wait for Last Year is pretty good so far. It would make a fantastic double-feature with Our Friends From Frolix 8. Where that book was more of an action-o...more

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Nov 22, 2011

Felix Zilich rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: aliens-among-us

2056 год. Последствия первых контактов с другими цивилизациями стали для человечества фатальными. Могущественная Лильская Империя втянула Землю в войну с расой ригов, и теперь вся промышленность планеты работает исключительно для нужд фронта. Вдобавок к этому земляне терпят поражение за поражением, и любой возможности выйти из этой бесмысленной войны у них нет.

Кардиолог Эрик Арома становится личным врачом генсека Земли Джино Молинари и буквально сразу же оказывается вовлечен во все х...more2056 год. Последствия первых контактов с другими цивилизациями стали для человечества фатальными. Могущественная Лильская Империя втянула Землю в войну с расой ригов, и теперь вся промышленность планеты работает исключительно для нужд фронта. Вдобавок к этому земляне терпят поражение за поражением, и любой возможности выйти из этой бесмысленной войны у них нет.

Кардиолог Эрик Арома становится личным врачом генсека Земли Джино Молинари и буквально сразу же оказывается вовлечен во все хитросплетения его политики. Эрик узнает о том, что Джино давно использует наркотик JJ-80 – “наркотик времени”, позволяющий совершать скачки в другие альтернативные версии прошлого и будущего. К сожалению, жертвой этого наркотика оказывается также и жена кардиолога Кэтрина Арома. Пытаясь спасти собственную жизнь, она соглашается работать на врагов генсека…

Филипп Дик был женат пять раз, и это прекрасно видно по всем его книгам. Институт семьи и брака показан в каждой из них как одно из самых ужасных и бесчеловечных открытий за всю историю человечества. Вдобавок к этому, почти все героини Дика или тупые истеричные домохозяйки, или безжалостные стервы, обязательно скрыто работающие на врага. В 1964 году писатель развелся со своей третьей женой Анной Уильямс, и это был самый тяжелый развод за всю его жизнь, так как Анны забрала при уходе с собой их четырехлетнюю дочь Лору – первого ребенка Филиппа. Отзвуки этого развода будут всплывать почти в каждом романе писателя на протяжении следующих нескольких лет, пока он не встретит свою следующую жену Нэнси Хэкетт. Эта встреча заставит его успокоиться и смириться с действительностью. Именно по этой причине “В ожидании прошлого” вовсе не трагедия, а скорее роман-примирение. Итогом нескольких лет самобичевания и самокопания, на смену которым придет признание факта – “я лох и неудачник”. В финале книги герой Филиппа Дика откровенно забьет на спасение человечества и решит смириться даже с тем фактом, что вся его жизнь предрешена и при этом в самом неприглядном свете. “Зато она моя” – решит он и передумает совершать самоубийство.

Несмотря на столь сильную психологическую линию, “В ожидании прошлого” является также одним и из лучших романов про манипуляцию временем и альтернативными мирами. Взяв за основу историю президента Рузвельта, который на смертном одре дотянул Америку до победы во Второй Мировой и только потом тихо помер, Филипп Дик создает Джино Молинари – одного из самых колоритных и неадекватных мегагероев своих романов. (2010.10.24)(less)

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Aug 17, 2011

Sandy rated it

A virtual compendium of many of Philip K. Dick's pet themes, tropes and obsessions, "Now Wait For Last Year," the author's 17th published sci-fi novel, originally appeared as a Doubleday hardcover in 1966. (As revealed in Lawrence Sutin's biography on Dick, the novel was actually written as early as 1963 and rewritten two years later.) Phil was on some kind of a roll at this point in his career, having recently come out with the masterpieces "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch"...moreA virtual compendium of many of Philip K. Dick's pet themes, tropes and obsessions, "Now Wait For Last Year," the author's 17th published sci-fi novel, originally appeared as a Doubleday hardcover in 1966. (As revealed in Lawrence Sutin's biography on Dick, the novel was actually written as early as 1963 and rewritten two years later.) Phil was on some kind of a roll at this point in his career, having recently come out with the masterpieces "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" and "Dr. Bloodmoney," and "Now Wait For Last Year" is still another great one for this important writer. In it, the Earth of the year 2055 is in big trouble, fighting a protracted, losing war with the 6-foot-tall, antlike reegs of Proxima Centauri while being harassed and bullied by its allies from Lilistar. Against this typically bleak Dickian backdrop, we meet Dr. Eric Sweetscent, an "artiforg" (artificial organ) transplant surgeon who leaves his cushy post at Tijuana Fur and Dye. Co. to minister to no less a personage than Gino Molinari, the hypochondriacal, psychosomatically ill U.N. Secretary General who is head of the Earth forces in Cheyenne, WY. Sweetscent's life is severely recomplicated when his estranged wife, Kathy, gets herself hooked on a new military weapon, a drug called JJ-180, which has the power to cause instant addiction and to induce time-travel effects in the user. And as if Eric's life weren't troubled enough, Kathy has just decided to get her husband hooked on the drug as well....

I mentioned up top that "NWFLY" is a virtual compendium of Dick's themes and ideas, and as such, it would make a perfect introduction for any readers new to PKD. The subject of artiforgs had already been broached in Phil's "The Penultimate Truth," which novel also featured Cheyenne as the U.N. capital. (For that matter, the subjects of 1920s cowboy star Tom Mix AND St. George, Utah, both strangely figure in the two novels.) As in so many of Dick's other books, the topic of divorce is spotlighted prominently here (the author was himself married five times, before his death at age 52), as is the issue of a world leader who is not what he seems (dealt with in depth in "The Simulacrum" and "The Penultimate Truth"), although here, that leader is not a mechanical construct, but something much more ingenious. As in "The Crack in Space," the theme of alternate Earths with alternate futures is given an airing, as are Phil's ambivalent attitudes toward drugs (JJ-180 is seen as an abomination in this book, and Eric in one section ponders that anyone who addicts another "ought to be hanged or shot"); these attitudes would turn decidedly antidrug a decade later, in the author's "A Scanner Darkly." The issue of suicide is again touched on (I've lost count of how many Dickian characters have had suicidal thoughts; Phil made a few attempts himself during his troubled life), but here, the author treats us to a wonderfully life-affirming resolution that caps his book off very sweetly. The novel, I should add, just brims with invention and ideas on virtually every page, be it the women's fashions (ebony teeth, toenails painted to depict the Norman Conquest, public toplessness with nipples gilded with a Martian life form!), Tijuana Fur and Dye owner Virgil Ackerman's Wash-35 outpost on Mars (an exact replica of a few square blocks of Washington, D.C., in 1935), the ingenious political intrigue or the truly disorienting, drug-induced time traveling. This is a novel that grows wilder and wilder as it proceeds; hold on tight and prepare to be stunned! Here we have Phil Dick operating at the near peak of his powers, and modern sci-fi really doesn't get too much better, loopier or heartfelt than that.

"NWFLY," still, is not a perfect book, and nitpicker that I am, I was able to discern some small problems. In the Martian Wash-35, for example, is a replica of the Uptown Theatre...which didn't open until 1936. And that McComb Street in "D.C."? That should be "Macomb." And when Kathy spots a 1932 Model A Ford during her JJ-180 trip...well, the Model A was discontinued in 1931; the Model B started in '32. And while I'm picking nits, just how DOES one cut a drug CAPSULE in thirds? OK, enough of that. Truth is, I really did love this wild collection of Philip K. Dick's pet preoccupations. "A daft and delightful yarn," British critic David Pringle calls it in his "Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction," and ain't it ever the truth! How I wish that some major studio would spend $200 million to lovingly bring THIS ONE to the big screen! (less)

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May 07, 2011

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy rated it

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Dick's misogyny is at full-bore here (PKD's works are so bound up in his own life and experiences that it helps, if you plan to read a considerable amount of his work, to get hold of a good biography like Lawrence Sutin's Divine Invasions and try and correlate the themes and issues in his books with what was going on in his rather messy and chaotic life at the time). So are his explorations of the nature of reality and time, the effects of weird drugs and his deep engagement with ethics, somethi...more

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Dec 27, 2010

Matt rated it

Shelves: science-fiction

It is pretty remarkable that I can say that this is my least favorite Philip K. Dick novel of the six I've read, but still give it four stars. My primary criticism is that it just takes too long to get rolling. For the first few chapters, it was hard to get a feel for the novel or really know where it was headed. It was until about the 80 page mark that it started to really find its feet, and become another really good Philip K. Dick novel.

Now Wait for Last Year tells the story of Eric...moreIt is pretty remarkable that I can say that this is my least favorite Philip K. Dick novel of the six I've read, but still give it four stars. My primary criticism is that it just takes too long to get rolling. For the first few chapters, it was hard to get a feel for the novel or really know where it was headed. It was until about the 80 page mark that it started to really find its feet, and become another really good Philip K. Dick novel.

Now Wait for Last Year tells the story of Eric Sweetscent, a doctor assigned to protecting the general well-being of Gino Molinari, arguably the most important man on Earth in the middle of a three-way interplanetary war. To make things more interesting, Eric's wife Kathy has become horribly addicted to an experimental drug manufactured to be a weapon of war. In addition to terrible withdrawal symptoms triggered after a single dose, it gives the user the ability to randomly travel back and forth in time while under its influence.

The novel has a lot to say about drugs; it isn't as poignant as A Scanner Darkly in that sense, but is still worthwhile and has a strong message. It gets a bit weird when the time travel comes into play, complete with a very Doctor Who-esque situation of someone's future self visiting the present self to let that present self know how to get things to where they are in the future world, which is apparently preferable to where things would be heading if the present self doesn't go with the plan that his future self comes up with. It creates the ever-so-troublesome predestination paradox that is a common problem in time travel fiction, but the story ends up being compelling enough that it is forgivable.

A first-time Dick reader might be put off by this, as with Dr. Bloodmoney (the novel I read before this), as they were both pretty bizarre and I wouldn't go far enough to call them particularly accessible. That being said, if you don't mind weird sci-fi with a political edge, drug-fueled frenzy, time travel, and interplanetary warfare, this is probably up your alley.(less)

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Jan 18, 2012

Tom rated it

Shelves: sci-fi, philip-k-dick

This book is a mind bender, but one with more hope than seems to be generally customary for a Philip K. Dick novel. The war between the reegs (large insect aliens) and the 'Starmen (from the planet Lillistar, the original home planet of the species that would eventually become to be known as "humans") has enveloped Earth (now called Terra), and Eric Sweetscent is about to be dragged right into the center of the whole thing. He has a new job keeping the Secretary General of the UN alive...more

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Aug 21, 2010

Kaput rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, really-enjoyed

Really enjoyed this one. Sometimes when you read many books by the same author you see a lot of the same ideas and themes crop up time and again, but it doesn't matter because the author is in their groove doing what they do best. As usual this one contains alternate universes, mind altering drugs and characters hopelessly trapped by circumstance struggling to control their own destinies. The plot, set in war time, is actually pretty tight. I really liked the idea of 'the leader of earth' bringi...more

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Oct 09, 2010

Jerry Dazzlepants rated it

Shelves: sci-fi, utopia-dystopia, aliens, apocalypse, time-travel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have mixed feelings about this story. I enjoyed reading it, and god knows I love me some Philip K Dick, but I feel like it was really lacking. It had some great potential, but the ambiguities totally ruined it for me. It's quite a schizophrenic read, setting up exciting storylines but hastily jumping to others, without any resolution going on.

I loved the alien and time travel aspects of this book, because those are some of my favourite story lines to read. But in the context of thi...moreI have mixed feelings about this story. I enjoyed reading it, and god knows I love me some Philip K Dick, but I feel like it was really lacking. It had some great potential, but the ambiguities totally ruined it for me. It's quite a schizophrenic read, setting up exciting storylines but hastily jumping to others, without any resolution going on.

I loved the alien and time travel aspects of this book, because those are some of my favourite story lines to read. But in the context of this story I feel they didn't reach their full potential, and kind of got lost. They seemed to take a back seat to the main character's emotional rollercoaster bullshit.

Philip K Dick could've done SO MUCH with the 'Starmen, particularly the way that Frenesky could practically kill Molinari with his presence alone. And what about the Reegs? They barely got a mention, considering they were the enemy that Terra and Lilistar were at war with. I was intrigued by them, because they seemed similar to the 'Prawns' in District 9.

And what about Molinari's illnesses? They were never fully addressed, or maybe they were and I missed it. I was really looking forward to Eric Sweetscent investigating how staff members in the White House mysteriously fall ill from the same illness at the same time as Molinari, but that storyline never eventuated. I don't know if they were pure coincidence and/or a result of Molinari's use of JJ-180.

I also would have liked to have found out more about JJ-180 - I found it fascinating that most people travel into the past, Sweetscent into the future, and Molinari moved sideways into alternate realities. There was real potential there for exploring how the drug facilitates time travel, and exactly why it's so damaging on the brain.

And can I just say that Dr Eric Sweetscent was REALLY fucking annoying? It pains me to say this, but I haven't read a story with such an annoying protagonist since Twilight. :( Initially I felt awful for him because he was married to an absolute BITCH, but as the story progressed he just got more self-loathing and obnoxious.

He got mildly better in the middle of the story, but then towards the end he became twice as pathetic to compensate. I wanted to punch him at the end - he was going to kill himself, decided against it, then when the 'Starmen invaded he just decided to DO NOTHING. I sat there most of the time headdesking, wishing that he would man the fuck up. >=|

While reading this it felt like Dick was consciously trying not to turn the story into a Space Opera, but I think it would have really benefited from going in that direction. Instead it became stagnant and more focused on the protagonist's inner turmoil, which wasn't even that interesting to begin with. I'm sure there were some metaphors in there about the war with the Reegs and Sweetscent's war with himself, but I have so little love for that character that I just don't give a fuck.

So I guess I really contradicted myself there, huh? I say I enjoyed reading it, and I honestly did. It was interesting to watch it unfold and kept me entertained for a few days. But now that I'm reviewing it, I can only focus on the negative things, even putting a negative spin on the aspects I did like. It's just really not one of Dick's best works, feeling kind of schizophrenic in the way it jumps from one important storyline to another without resolving any of them. (less)

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May 24, 2009

Glenn Schmelzle rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Plot Summary:
Dr. Eric Sweetscent, who works for a conglomerate that does everything from drug manufacturing to defence contracting, is loaned to the UN to be the Secretary General's physician. The UN has Earth at war with aliens called the Reegs, with the help of the untrustworthy Starmen of the Lilistar empire. Secretary Gino Molinari suffers from chronic health problems, having had many artificial organs inserted by his 'artiforg surgeon.' Now Eric has to tend to him as his health pings...morePlot Summary:
Dr. Eric Sweetscent, who works for a conglomerate that does everything from drug manufacturing to defence contracting, is loaned to the UN to be the Secretary General's physician. The UN has Earth at war with aliens called the Reegs, with the help of the untrustworthy Starmen of the Lilistar empire. Secretary Gino Molinari suffers from chronic health problems, having had many artificial organs inserted by his 'artiforg surgeon.' Now Eric has to tend to him as his health pings up and down and we learn that it's intentionally manipulated for negotiating purposes. In fact, he has several robants of himself that stand-in for him on TV appearances, etc.

We become aware of JJ-180, a time-altering drug that's addictive after 1 dose. We're Unsure whether JJ-180 was created by the Reegs or by humans, but it ends up being effective as a military weapon. Eric's estranged wife, Kathy, takes some drugs, which turn out to be JJ-180. She then drifts in between the present and the near-future. She attempts to contact Eric, but afraid how he'll react, she doesn't tell him her dilemma. As her cravings increase, she makes a deal with the Starmen to blackmail Eric (this furthers their negotiating plans). Between her and a Uriah Heep character called Festenberg, Eric is slipped some JJ-180 into Eric, both tantamount to a death notice and grounds for losing his job. He contemplates suicide, but he thinks better of it. The book ends with him strolling through Tijuana, seeing not macro-political trends, but little thinks that he can draw inspiration from.

Comments:

This could've been written as a straight fiction book, centred upon a man facing middle age and a troubled marraige. What makes it a PKD book is the existentialism, the sci-fi inventions and rooting for the little guy. The Dick technique used the mostr throughout the book: characters go through a simple situation, but then they're quizzed on whether they REALLY experienced it, or if they misinterpreted it, or if their senses were deceiving them. All to prove that reality is open for debate.

My favourite piece of dialogue involves Eric talking with a adolescent girl with a matter-of-fact way of talking:
"What can I say," he said, "except that maybe you've put your finger on the great central weak link of my life. Why it hasn't got the meaning it should have?"
"Well, who do you blame for that? Everyone else?"

This isn't one of my favourite PKD novels, but I'm not sure how to fault it; just that the subject matter may be a downer.

(less)

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Sep 22, 2009

Sal rated it

In the tradition of Philip K. Dick's relentless quest to explore the nature of reality, "Now Wait For Last Year" more specifically explores the notion of time, utilizing a clever political angle to drive this exploration forward. Its an intriguing book that touches on war, peace, politics, marital problems, the effects of drugs, drug addiction, and the purpose of one's role in the world when everything seems to be collapsing. If it sounds like alot, it is. But PKD is so good at pull...more

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Dec 21, 2011

Kat Hooper rated it

Earth is allied with the planet Lilistar against the alien Reegs. Gino Molinari, the leader of Earth’s forces, has just hired Eric Sweetscent as his personal physician. For his new job, Eric has to leave his wife Kathy, who has just become addicted to a new hallucinogenic drug. Eric is glad to leave, though, because he and Kathy aren’t getting along.

When Eric arrives at Gino Molinari’s side, he finds that the man has some strange health issues. At first Eric thinks Mr. Molinari is a pa...moreEarth is allied with the planet Lilistar against the alien Reegs. Gino Molinari, the leader of Earth’s forces, has just hired Eric Sweetscent as his personal physician. For his new job, Eric has to leave his wife Kathy, who has just become addicted to a new hallucinogenic drug. Eric is glad to leave, though, because he and Kathy aren’t getting along.

When Eric arrives at Gino Molinari’s side, he finds that the man has some strange health issues. At first Eric thinks Mr. Molinari is a paranoid hypochondriac until he discovers that he has survived numerous bouts of cancer. Soon there are other strange discoveries about Molinari’s health that baffle Dr. Sweetscent. When he finds out that the drug that Kathy’s hooked on came from off-world and causes its users to travel through time, he wonders if her drug addiction and Gino Molinari’s bizarre symptoms could be related. He also starts to wonder if Earth is on the wrong side of the war.

You never know what you’re going to get with a story by Philip K. Dick. Well, that’s not exactly true. You can almost certainly expect aliens, spaceships, robots, drug use, paranoia, bad marriages, time warps, alternate universes, and badly inaccurate psychology. What I mean is that PKD’s stories vary greatly in quality — some of them are incredibly clever and innovative, while others are almost painful to read. This may be because, according to biographers, Dick’s novels reflect his own unhappy life and his struggles with drugs, divorce, and mental illness.

Now Wait for Last Year (1966) is definitely one of the better ones. Eric Sweetscent is a complex character with complex problems for which there are no obvious solutions. A wrong move could endanger all of humanity! There’s mystery, whimsy, and humor here, too — the scenes with the talking taxis are funny (humorous situations with automatons are a familiar PKD element).

What stands out most, though, is that Now Wait for Last Year is an unusually emotional novel for Philip K. Dick. Eric deals with a whole spectrum of feelings toward his wife: grief, love, hate, treachery, anger, disgust, and pity. I actually dissolved into tears during the final scene of Now Wait for Last Year when the talking taxi gives Eric some beautiful advice.

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version of Now Wait for Last Year. Luke Daniels performed it perfectly, as usual. I love old science fiction and I love audiobooks, so I absolutely adore Brilliance Audio for putting so much old science fiction on audio this year! (less)

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Jun 05, 2011

Mike Ebbert rated it

I get it, I get it, he hates women! And relationships are doomed to go sour and not just break up but go horrendously bad to where the characters dedicate their lives to ruining their former mate. Geez, I can't take it anymore, I'm done!

On the story side, Dick has great ideas and this one has interesting time travel and alternate reality themes that would be fun if the characters were not always in such a terrible state. I just couldn't get past the couples cheating on each other ...more

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Jul 10, 2009

Don rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Yeah, well, what to make of PKD? The construction of all his novels makes you think that he sat diwn with reams of blank baby and kept going untilo it was all filled up. In the place of a plot you get characters whose lives are pushed and pulled in all directions by randomly occurring ideas. An unhappy couple, a strange inter-planetary war, a mad genious politician, and a drug that moves addicts backwards or forwards through time. Now where are you going to go with a bunch of stuff like that...more

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Jan 18, 2009

Dan rated it

There are certain things you can always expect in a Philip K. Dick book. You can always expect elements of twisted perception...what would it be like to be able to speak to a version of yourself in another timestream and how would that affect the future/past/present, or, what if there were two simulacra of yourself, but you lost track of which was the real one? You know, stuff like that.
This book in many ways is a standard Dick read, which still makes it one hell of a fun ride, giving you...more

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Jan 22, 2010

Mad Dog rated it

Recommends it for: people that have read PKD before: Don't make this your first PKD

Great title. The book should be rated highly for the title alone. I read this book ten months ago and for some reason I just don't have much recollection of it. Its as if I read the book 10 years ago. I wish I could travel back to last year when I read it. The book existed on Earth in a future (at the time the book was written) alternate reality that seemed 'almost apocalyptic'. But there was time travel, space travel, and other weird stuff in the book. There was stuff going on in San Diego, Ti...more

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May 22, 2009

Erik rated it

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Shelves: philosophy-and-science-fiction

Sweetness. Hanging out in my conapt reading PKD again after a break and after reading Adam Gopnik's elitist and clueless slam of PKD (2004?): "A magician with the same three mangy rabbits." I don't know why I let crap like that affect me, when Dick so obviously belongs to American letters, where you find the same themes of fake vs. real, con-job vs. reality in Melville, Twain, Gaddis, Pynchon, etc. Okay, finished. All in all a nice little jaunt, with time travelling drugs (every hippie...more

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May 17, 2010

Jorge Candeias rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, american-literature, 3-stars, presenca

- fully Dick
- a drug that allows time travel and travel to parallel universes is just... fully Dick
- yet, not the best of Dick; he treated his obsessions about the unreliability of reality much better in other novels
- very, very far from being the best translation I've read
- 50 translator's notes in a 200-page book, most of which completely unnecessary, only worsen the whole reading experience
- still... fully Dick

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Sep 02, 2009

Jonathan rated it

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I learned that Norwich library has a secret stash of Philip K Dick books which I had not hitherto noticed. This is one of them. I bemoan the Science Fiction! cover, but found it satisfying; heady, coherent (in setting, if not in narrative), interesting, readable. I vacillated between 3 and four stars. I'll stick with three for now, since the ending, though necessary, was a bit limp given the engagingness of the pages before.

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Dec 04, 2010

David Shaw rated it

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Shelves: philip-k-dick

A decent work of PKD.

Unfortunately, the best segment of the book, for me, is in the last quarter. That is where the meat and the essential conveyance of the story lies. That is where PKD shines like he usually does.

Yet, in brief, I felt the narrative was convoluted and looser than usual. Normally, a storyline that is as complex as 'Now Wait For Last Year' is will leave substantial room for the reader to follow along with minimal difficulty. Abnormally for me, I was at times c...more

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Aug 26, 2011

Geoff Sebesta rated it

· review of another edition

This book starts as standard PKD arglebargle and then suddenly resolves into something melancholy and sweet. It's about how he feels bad for LBJ and Kennedy and his marriage is coming apart. Long story short, a man is thinking about getting a divorce, so he travels ten years into the future and sees if it's a good idea. Also aliens invade.

· see review

May 27, 2009

Errol Hess rated it

I picked at random one of Dick's books published after his death to recommend his non-science fiction work, which is realistic and embodies his unique vision of American life. These were written before he became published in science fiction and were published only after he died, when any Dick work was a money maker.

· see review

Apr 09, 2009

Ricky rated it

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Some books sort of slip upon you like this one did. I guess I really didn't find it as inventive as others by him such as Ubik or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch but the last twelve paragraphs got to me.

· see review

Nov 06, 2011

Jillian Campbell rated it

Loved it! Delightfully ridiculous as usual, full of horrible people fighting a pointless war. It's the little things that make it so funny, like the "sentient nipples". Fashion statement of the year!

· see review

Jun 21, 2010

Sam rated it

Several misdirections (or dead ends/unexplored ideas). I realize more & more that PKD was just writing and rewriting the same story throughout much of the sixties. Again, the lead female is a total shrew.

· see review

Oct 20, 2011

Christophe rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Un bon PKD : maîtrise d'un récit tournant comme d'habitude autour des mondes parallèles , de la drogue mais aussi du pouvoir.
La relation du personnage avec sa femme n'est pas un thème courant de PKD.

· see review

Feb 17, 2010

Vivian rated it

Not the best PKD I've ever read. The concepts were interesting, but the storyline was hard to follow, and the characters' actions were sometimes unrealistic.

· see review

Jan 31, 2011

Dale rated it

Excellent mind bender. Dick was such a masterful story teller and this one doesn't disappoint. Interesting take on time travel/parallel dimensions.

· see review

Sep 30, 2011

Paul rated it

Shelves: science-fiction

i loved this book and like many of the other reviews say it covers almost all the bases of why i like PKD because he creates a narrative that is very poignant especially if you know anything about his personal life at the time.

in his later books i think it is pretty easy to question his grasp on reality and seems to me that NWFLL is right at the apex of his writing powers just before the descent into the worst of his mental illness and paranoid behaviors.

I'm not one t...more

· see review

May 11, 2009

James rated it

This may be my favorite PKD book I've read thus far. It has the same logic twist towards the end, but unlike the other formats this one is better at the beginning. The end is sort of anticlimatic. This still rules it, though.

· see review

Jun 20, 2011

Ian rated it

Set during a war between the 'Starmen (inhabitants of the planet Lilistar) and the Reegs, Now Wait for Last Year is the story of Eric Sweetscent, an organ-transplant doctor who gets wrapped up in Earth-Lilistar politics. (from Wikipedia entry).

Irritating but intriguing and feels like a bit of paranoid come down (I know, its Philip K Dick) but full of great ideas and a sort of realistic future that isn't shiny and well ordered. Women characters in this are generally portrayed as harpies...more

· see review

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About Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more

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Quotes from Now Wait for Last Year

“Human has always striven to retain the past, to keep it convincing; there's nothing wicked in that. Without it we have no continuity; we have only the moment. And, deprived of the past, the moment - the present - has little meaning, if any.” — 6 people liked it

“...that thing that's taken refuge there in that zinc bucket, without a wife, a career, a conapt, or money or the possibility of encountering any of these, still persists. For reasons unknown to me its stake in existence is greater than mine.” — 1 person liked it

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